Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome announces the 2024 Connecting East Baton Rouge Neighborhood Convention at the River Center Theatre on Friday. Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome has announced a first-of-its-kind neighborhood convention for East Baton Rouge Parish communities with a goal of bringing people together to learn what it means to be a good neighbor. Broome discussed the event, Connecting East Baton Rouge Neighborhood Convention, on Friday at the River Center Theatre.
“Our vision is for residents to know and help their neighbors live in safe, vibrant neighborhoods where we all feel welcomed and loved, sharing a strong sense of community," she said. The convention is scheduled for 9 a.m.
to 4 p.m. Sept.
14 at Raising Cane’s River Center. Broome anticipates hundreds of attendees including residents, business owners, city-parish department heads and public safety leaders. Workshops will be held throughout the day.
The convention schedule and list of workshops is still being fine-tuned. Targets include reducing crime, enhancing education and preventing blight. The Federation of Baton Rouge Civics Associations, various neighborhood associations, crime prevention districts and neighborhood residents from across East Baton Rouge Parish are among those organizing the event.
Details including the number of workshops and what conversations and lessons will be discussed at each workshop are still being developed. Melinda Walsh, a retired advertiser, is working with the team as the designated “storyteller.” Her role at the convention focuses on educating residents on ways to connect with their neighborhood's history and culture.
“Who lived [in the neighborhood]?” she said. “What is it about this neighborhood that is unique that we could be proud of?” She plans to advertise available resources on neighborhood websites and the archive division at the East Baton Rouge Parish library. She hopes to see neighbors connect over their common goals and focus on the communities closest to them.
Her time in the Southdowns neighborhood as always felt friendly and welcoming, she said, and she wants to see residents — old and new — feel the same way. Debra Simino, president of Sherwood Forrest, which is the largest subdivision in Louisiana, will lead a workshop about leadership. Among her goals are to bring community leaders together to unite residents and support one another.
Simino wants to educate and empower community members to resolve continuous issues that apply to residents across the parish. “You find out that you have more in common than you do differences,” Simino said. Jenolah Duke, a resident of Sherwood Forrest, has lived in the parish since she graduated from LSU in 1959.
She said her involvement in the convention stems from her love for her community and to show residents that support systems exist all around them. “I really think if we strengthen our neighborhoods, we will take care of the other problems,” Duke said. City-parish services, libraries and parks will address parishwide issues, including flooding and drainage, and ways to combat these issues.
Residents can to attend the convention. Complimentary registration opened Friday, and space is limited, according to the website..
